


Fathoms Below

by achievementboyfriends



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cross Species Relationship, M/M, mermaid au, mermaid!gavin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-13 16:55:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achievementboyfriends/pseuds/achievementboyfriends
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael Jones has just found himself as Second Mate on a commercial fishing gig, reporting to Captain Geoff Ramsey. His first day seems to be going fine until they hit a little snag in their catch, pulling up their net to find something only talked about in legend; a mermaid. A merman, to be specific. While Geoff wants to turn the creature in to the authorities, Michael can’t help but connect with the merman, learning its name and slowly but surely finding himself falling in love.<br/></p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <i>Look out, lad, a mermaid be waiting for you, in mysterious fathoms below.</i>
  </p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a mermaid!Gavin AU! I have absolutely no idea about the positions in commercial fishing, so I based it off of seafarer positions on actual boats. I also know absolutely nothing about boats, so if there are any incorrect facts regarding how fishing boats work, feel free to fill me in! This chapter is just a little introductory chapter into Michael’s and Geoff's lives and we also get a glimpse of something special at the end. I hope you enjoy! :)

Of all the summers Michael Jones had worked at The Hunters Fishing Company, he had yet to be able to work with Captain Geoff Ramsey, founder of the company that was the first in taking major strides in changing national standards of commercial fishing for the better. Michael had seen pictures of Geoff around the building and in newspapers reporting on his innovative fishing standards and new net forms, but he’d yet to actually meet the man himself. 

Michael had been working at The Hunters Fishing Company for three summers in a row after moving to the area. He had grown up splitting his time between his father in New Jersey and his mother in Texas, where he currently lived. He’d graduated high school the year the company was first founded and after realizing he’d be in Texas for a while to take care of his aging mother, he took up the first job position there that he could find. 

The work was easy but mostly boring, sitting around with a crew of older men waiting to pull up the net with their catch. The job paid well and that was enough to keep Michael coming back each summer when his college classes were out. Still, it would be nice to go home to his mother one night and tell her how he’d finally met the man who had changed the economy of her small Texas hometown for the better but it seemed as if Geoff Ramsey had no interest in changing his primary crew.

That was until Geoff’s Chief Officer Jack Pattillo, co-founder of The Hunters Fishing Company, resigned unexpectedly. The company was abuzz with gossip over why the co-founder would mysteriously resign but it was peak fishing season and there was no time to waste on gossip when their crews needed to get to work. With Second Mate Ryan Haywood being promoted to Chief Officer, that left a gap in the crew that needed filling and fast. Jumping at the opportunity, Michael applied for the promotion and not long after was celebrating his new job position at a nice sit-down dinner with his mom.

“This means I’ll have a stable position, and even if that means I’ll have to miss a bit of fall term to work, I’ll be making good enough money to make the sacrifice worth it. This is fucking great!”

His mother didn’t even flinch at the curse word, so used to her son’s colorful language. Michael splurged much more than he would normally spend on a meal with his mother in celebration, ending the wonderful night by laying in bed staring up at the ceiling, wondering just what it would be like working for the famous Captain Ramsey. 

Only tomorrow would tell.

~

Geoff Ramsey wasn’t a complicated person; he enjoyed long walks on the beach, beer, and his lovely wife Griffon. After working at an IT company for years he stumbled across the commercial fishing industry with his best friend, Jack. When they saw how backwards some of the regulations were regarding safe netting, the two of them immediately set out to design safer nets that not only caused less harm to the fish but helped in only catching the types of fish that they wanted. The Hunters Fishing Company soon became a big thing in their Texas coast town and Geoff’s life was, so far, completely changed from the one he had been living before.

Of course, that didn’t mean that there weren’t hiccups now and then. Jack had decided that fishing just wasn’t a thing he wanted to devote his entire life to, which Geoff understood, but that meant that he hurriedly had to replace some members of his crew in order to be working proficiently for the season. Promoting Ryan Haywood seemed like the smartest choice but the issue lay with replacing Ryan's old position. Thankfully, a young kid by the name of Michael who had apparently been working for them for years fit the bill perfectly and without a day wasted, Geoff Ramsey had a fully functioning crew.

Now he was stood at the ship’s wheel, watching his crew work. Michael was a good worker, stopping only to get some water before getting right back to the job. Geoff admired that in a crew member and he couldn’t help but think that things would only be on the up-and-up from here on out. In fact, the day was almost out and there was only one more net left to bring in. Ordering Ryan and some of the others to take over steering home, Geoff joined Michael down on deck.

“You need a hand bringing the net in, lad?” Geoff asked, watching how Michael seemed to be struggling. The boy jumped, turning to face his boss with a frown on his face.

“Sorry, Captain, I think we either caught something big or the net is malfunctioning.”

Now it was Geoff’s turn to frown as he looked down, sighing as he noticed a tear in the net. 

“Yeah, that’s not gonna come up on its own. We’re gonna have to lift it up. There shouldn’t be much in there; you up to it?”

Michael shrugged, reaching across the edge of the ship to take hold of the net, dragging it in slowly but surely, clearly thankful for the assistance. Geoff couldn’t help but think that Michael was right, that they had caught something quite heavier than what the net was used to. Whatever it was, he’d definitely have to take the net home and search for the issue on his free time, not something he was looking forward to doing.

All frustrating thoughts flew from his head when he heard a low groan and the net started to thrash about, almost falling back into the water. He yelled for Michael to hold on tight and drag the remaining net in, eyes going wide as he saw just what was causing the problem; some _thing_ was clawing at the net and ripping it apart even as the two of them lifted it over the side of the boat, dumping it onto the deck.

“What the fuck is that!?” Geoff heard Michael scream but he had no time to answer. He immediately straddled the creature that was flailing about on its stomach, unable to roll over. He held it down on the deck, only the thin net separating his own vulnerable skin from whatever the damned thing was. It made a terrible, desperate noise, getting the attention of the other men on the ship.

“Don’t come any closer!” He yelled out, afraid of what the mysterious thing would do if provoked even more. “What the fuck is going on, is this a fish?!” The question was aimed at a very confused, very scared looking Michael who had taken several strides backwards, staring with wide eyes.

“That’s not a fucking fish, Captain, holy fuck.”

Geoff could see that, his hands wrapped around the creature’s wrists, pinning them down. He could see the terrifying looking claws tipping the thing's fingers and just from where he was sitting, he could see the disturbing mesh of what seemed to be human skin fading into splotchy green... _scales_. Taking one look behind him, his suspicions were confirmed. Where there should have been two legs there was one long green tail, split at the very end into two small fins. Turning back around to face Michael, Geoff knew the fear was showing clear as day on his face. Whatever this mutation was, it was dangerous, and he had no idea what to do with it.

The thing started to make an even worse noise and the only thing Geoff could compare it to would be a dying cat, howling and screeching and bucking around underneath him. This thing was most certainly not a human. 

“Throw me a rope or something, lad!” Geoff shouted over the cries of the creature, making quick work of tying its slimy wrists together to keep it from attacking them. “I have no fucking idea what this thing is, but I don’t know what to do!” 

Truly frightened for the first time in a long time, Geoff looked to the others for help. Whatever this was, it was serious business. By the time Ryan made his way down deck, the creature had stopped thrashing and fighting, instead laying flat and taking in deep, choking breaths. 

“Does it need water, Captain? Should we...should we throw it back in?”

Geoff looked from Ryan to Michael and finally back down to the thing underneath him. Now that it wasn’t fighting to probably kill him, Geoff could see the dangerous looking markings on the creature’s face, wrapping around its ears and down its neck. As human as the top half looked, Geoff knew that this was something only spoken of in legends. It was a merman. There was no way he was throwing it back in.

Taking more rope from Michael, Geoff made quick work of further tying the thing as tight as possible before he felt secure enough to stand up and back away from the thing, watching as it pathetically flopped about. The rest of the fish in the net had escaped, leaving only this mysterious half-human on their deck, sharp teeth bared and fingers flexing in an attempt to free itself from the ropes. 

Taking a deep breath, Geoff leaned against the side of the boat, eyes wide as he observed.

“Steer towards home. This is...this is big.”

Turning away from the nightmarish thing, Geoff left Michael alone with the creature, hoping the new kid could handle...whatever that was, at least until they got home. He had some calls to make.

~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering, the lagoon is a little mini pond of water that has access to the ocean and is open-air. I've been in a few for some scuba-diving swim safety lessons, so that's where I drew my inspiration for where they'd keep Gavin :)

Michael stands against the edge of the deck, hands grasping the metal as he attempts to keep himself from running away. Geoff and Ryan fucking left him here alone with the thing as they frantically try to steer the boat home. The creature is staring at Michael, eyes in dangerous slits as it pathetically flops against the floor. He watches in horror as it opens its mouth and gasps, and suddenly realization hits him like a ton of bricks; the fucking thing needs water. 

Michael rushes towards the cooler on deck, grabbing as many bottles of water as he can carry before hurrying back over to the pathetic half-man staring at him with alien eyes. He’s talking to himself as he uncaps the first bottle and begins to splash it against the creature’s _tail_ , wincing as the speckled green fin slaps against the deck in response.

“Listen buddy, I don’t want to keep you here any more than you want to be here. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m either high, drunk, or having the weirdest dream of my life because there’s no way any of this is real but just in case it is, I’m gonna fucking pour this water on you so you don’t die on the way back home because I’ll be damned if a motherfucking _mermaid_ dies on my first day, you hear me?”

The creature opens its mouth but doesn’t make a sound, instead turning its head towards Michael’s outstretched arm where he’s finishing up the first bottle and opening up a second.

“Shit, do you need it on your face? Do you need it to breathe? Fucking Christ, we better be close to home because I swear, if you die on me fish-boy, that’ll be the end of me!”

Tossing the cap to the second bottle across the deck, Michael gently pours the cool water over the merman’s head, watching in awe and horror as the creature tilts its face into the stream, making quiet gasps as the water fills its mouth. The bottle isn’t even empty by the time he’s opening a third, and soon a fourth, before all the bottles he’s brought over are empty and they’re still not close to dock.

The merman looks so pitiful and in pain and something comes over Michael to make him reach out and touch the thing’s head, eyes going wide at the feeling of the silky soft hair beneath his fingers; it was mesmerizing. He continues to pet the merman’s head, making soft noises under his breath in an attempt to calm the creature, not wanting another outburst (he can see those claws, thank you very much, and he does _not_ want to be on the wrong end of them). Distantly he hears Ryan calling his name and he feels the boat physically slow; they must be close. Still, he doesn’t take his hand off of the creature, soothing the thing even as he himself is freaking out inside. This isn’t some pet they’ve picked up off the street, it’s a goddamn thing of legend that is even more terrifying than Michael had ever dared to imagine as a child. The black and green stripes traveling down its neck and ears and down towards the middle of its back are terrifying. 

Still, even with the yelling and frightened commotion going on with the rest of the crew, as Michael locks eyes with piercing green ones, he feels an intense yearning to release the creature back into the sea from whence it came. He can’t help but wonder what he’d done in a past life to deserve such a bizarre present one. 

Michael sees a group of people hanging around near the dock, and his heart leaps to his throat. There’s no way that they can bring this thing from the boat to their building, not with so many tourists and assholes milling about. He panics, not wanting to draw even more attention to the situation. Ripping off his hoodie, Michael covers the merman’s tail, whispering meaningless reassurances as the creature pathetically mewls, a pained, miserable look on its face. 

“Just let me cover you for now, buddy, because if people see your tail, they’re going to flip the fuck out and you’re going to be shipped away to some government facility and you’ll never get out. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Until then, Michael hadn’t thought that the thing could understand a single lick of English, but the second he finishes his rant, the merman stills, a determined look overcoming its face as it curls up under the red hoodie, the front of its tail almost flat against its chest. Michael exhales in relief, tucking in the oversized jacket and holding it still until the boat comes to a stop. The fingers on his free hand mindlessly comb through the sea-stiff hair, pushing it up and away from the merman’s face before thinking of a better idea, using some of it to cover the frightening marks on its face and neck. 

He hears Geoff and Ryan coming closer now, now that the boat is still. The rest of the crew has been hurried off, and Michael isn’t even sure how much the other men know about the ‘emergency’ that caused the boat to quickly turn around and return back to shore. He hopes not many know, because the more people that know, the more dangerous it will be for the creature they’ve found. Michael frowns as he runs that idea in his head again, wondering just when he started caring about the sea-beast. 

Geoff comes to a stop not far from Michael, eyes wary as he takes in the sight before him. 

“How did you get it to stop freaking out?” His boss asks dubiously, taking in the now docile creature and the jacket covering its bottom half. 

“I told him that if he makes himself noticeable to the fuckheads hanging out on the dock, he’d be shipped off to the nearest government facility before he could blink. We need to be careful bringing him in, boss, you know that, right?”

Michael feels weird confronting _the_ Geoff Ramsey on his _first day_ of work, but there’s no way he’s letting some suit come and take the creature they’ve found before they could learn more about it first. Just as that thought runs through his head, the merman makes another pained noise, pushing itself up closer to Michael. Michael sees Geoff frowning, but he thinks he might have won this round with his boss. Geoff Ramsey isn’t stupid, or at the very least, he isn’t stupid enough to parade a fucking mermaid through town.

“What do you think we should do, Ryan?” Geoff asks, kneeling down next to Michael, tentatively reaching out to tuck in a loose area of the jacket. 

“We could keep him in the swim-safety lagoon for now, though I’m not sure how safe that would be for…it. We have no idea what kinds of chemicals are dangerous for it and we could be killing it by tossing it in there.”

“There’s literally nowhere else though,” Geoff groans. “It’s miles safer to put it in the lagoon for now than it would be to toss it in a fucking _pool_ or to leave it here to…do mermaids dry up? Christ, this is a weird fucking day of work.”

Michael listens, pulling away from the creature to take a good look at it. Its eyes lock on Michael’s, pleading and pitiful and completely devoid of the earlier fight it had. 

“Do you…do you know if you’d be able to… _survive_ in other water? We can’t really throw you back in where we found you right now and it’s the only option we have.”

Geoff and Ryan go silent, turning to give Michael incredulous looks. 

“Are you really talking to the damn thing right now, lad? There’s no way it understands what you’re saying. We’re just wasting time here.”

“Just…shut up a second.” Michael bites out, and he inwardly cringes, knowing he’s ruining everything with this damn job on his first day. “He listened to me when I told him about the people on the dock, and he let me cover him with the hoodie, so he must understand _something_ that I’m saying, yeah?”

Geoff and Ryan share a look, and Michael knows that he’s won them over yet again. 

“So…mermaid guy. You gonna be okay if we move you to a different body of water? We can’t really have you turning to sea-foam right now.”

Michael swears the merman smirks, but it’s gone before he can register it more than a second. Instead, the creature nods just slightly, and that’s enough answer for Geoff. 

“Alright. Ryan, go make sure that there’s no one in the office. Michael…you have the balls to carry that thing in? I don’t want to be liable if you end up mauled by a merman.”

Michael shrugs, even though he is more than terrified of getting closer to the thing. For now it’s calm, but he has no idea what it’s capable of. Still, he nods. 

“Sure thing. Just…make sure there’s no one around, and you should probably start thinking up a story to tell the office and the rest of the guys who were on the boat.”

Geoff grimaces, and Michael doesn’t envy his boss’s job. Instead, he pushes away from the mermaid before frowning, thinking on how he can logically get this done.

“Don’t bite me, mer-dude, okay?”

He doesn’t wait any longer before scooping his arms underneath the merman’s tail, pushing himself up to his feet, only stumbling a bit. Thankfully the creature’s hands are still tied behind its back, but other than that, its face is alarmingly close to his own, and he can’t bring himself to look it in the eyes. Instead, he keeps his eyes trained ahead, following his boss and making sure that the hoodie doesn’t come loose around the merman’s legs. 

They’re halfway to the building when he feels something slimy and wet on the side of his face, and he groans. Geoff turns but doesn’t stop walking, giving Michael a disgusted look. 

“What the hell did it do?” he asks his boss, but Geoff says nothing, and Michael swears he can feel the thing laugh against his chest. 

Once inside the door, Michael rushes towards the back room that leads to their outdoor swim-safety lagoon that everyone had to test in before being hired. Ryan is there, eyes wide and fearful as Geoff and Michael barge through the back door. Michael immediately crouches down and practically tosses the creature into the water, watching in awe as it starts frantically swimming around in circles.

“Did you close the outlet to the ocean?” Geoff asks, and Ryan must nod because nothing more is said. The three of them just watch as the mutant thing swims around and around, clearly much happier in the water than it was on the deck of their little boat. That’s when Michael remembers the rope.

“Shit, someone give me some scissors or a knife or something, we have to untie its arms.”

“Are you fucking serious? The second we untie its hands, it’ll tear us apart! Did you _see_ its claws?”

“Yeah, I did, but I also saw how he listened to us and let us fucking kidnap him from the ocean, so I think if he were going to claw us apart, he’s already had ample opportunities.”

Ryan silently hands Michael a pair of scissors and Michael exhales, nervously sticking his hand in the water in hopes to get the merman’s attention. He isn’t sure it works as the creature keeps swimming in circles for a few moments before rushing towards Michael’s hand. He jerks it up out of the water and waits, eyes going comically wide for the umpteenth time that day as the merman emerges from the water, its long hair smoothly cascading down its back, dangerous markings now gone. It’s looking at Michael curiously, eyes flicking between him and Geoff and Ryan before landing back on him. 

“Uh…the rope. Let me cut it?”

The merman tilts its head, frowning for a second before it understands what Michael means. It makes a strange chirpy noise, turning around so Michael can reach the rope. He makes quick work of cutting it loose and the millisecond it’s gone, the merman is swimming in frantic circles again, making those chirpy noises even underwater. 

Michael shares a look with Geoff and Ryan and starts to laugh, completely out of his mind with how crazy the day turned out.

“I think it’s safe you say you get a raise, lad.” Geoff jokes, and then all three of them are laughing, watching as their unique catch swims in endless circles in the tiny lagoon. It’s been a crazy day indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to track my progress or give input on some ideas I have for this WIP, please follow me on tumblr! http://achievementboyfriends.tumblr.com/ :)


End file.
